>> Saturday, December 22, 2007

This was the baking trifecta of firsts. First Daring Baker's Challenge, first cake not made from a mix, and first buttercream.

The challenge was to bake a genoise Yule Log with coffee butter cream frosting and decorate it with either marzipan or meringue mushrooms. We were provided with recipes for a plain genoise cake, the coffee buttercream frosting, and meringue.

I flavored the cake with a little vanilla, used the same coffee buttercream frosting for the filling, and made the mushrooms from meringue. The only other real deviation was that I used a half sheet pan rather than the size specified. I didn't scale up the recipe so my cake layer was thinner than it would have been.

It wasn't a technically difficult project, but I am a lot better at making and eating frosting than I am at decorating cakes with it! The children and I thought the results were tasty, and we all loved the coffee buttercream.

Edited to add: Now that I've looked at all the other logs (and man are there a lot of them!) I can see how far I have to go. There are some incredibly talented people out there. This is one of my favorites - La Casserole Caree. Is that not amazing? I really wanted to comment, but it's in French and I couldn't figure it out. Such a doofus!

Your event reminds me of the first time my mother rode a bike - she went for a 25 mile bike ride. Nothing like starting at the top, now other cakes will seem so easy. Congratulations on a lovely Bûche de Noël, and Merry Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I'd say we both did okay for first timers! Your mushrooms turned out really well and your buttercream consistency looks great (that was my one trouble spot.) Can't wait till next month!

Love your Buche de Noel!! Being our very first challenge I think that we learned a lot and I for one had fun rising to the challenge! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. I hope it is everything you hope for and more!!Val

Oh I'm glad this one was your first challenge, instead of one of the more nightmarish ones (I've just personally had a few disasters, shall we say). I would never have been able to tell that this is your first buttercream and non cake-mix cake. Way to go, and welcome to the Daring Bakers!

This was also my first time with a DB challenge, with making buttercream from scratch, and making homemade mousse from scratch. I think we both did a pretty decent job!! Your dessert looks fantastic!!! Keep up the wonderful work, I'm looking forward to seeing what we come up with next month!

What a great first post for the Daring Baker challenge! Your log looks wonderful and the mushrooms are beautiful and well placed. I like that it all looks like a Christmas gift. glad you are a Daring Baker. Happy holidays!

Congrats and welcome to the group! I read through your site - it is adorable! Coincidentally I am very interested in making bentos - I just received a bento box I ordered online so now I just need to figure out what to do with it! They are so varied and artistic - I'm really looking forward to diving in.

Ooh... that Yule Log by La Casserole Caree is shiny! I managed to leave a comment (my husband took French) and thought I would tell you how in case you are still interested.

1. Scroll down to the bottom by the close up of the knome.2. Click where it says "Ajouter un commentaire"3. In the field where it says "votre pseudo" put your email address.4. Then fill out your comment where it says "message" and click "Envoyer."

OMG, I love it!!!! Beautiful job. I have an incredible fondness for yule log cakes that actually look yummy. My grandmother always makes one that no one can bear to eat cause it's so dry you can barely cut it, lol. Yours looks fantastic. The mushrooms are great :D